Bow stand log

[no bait nate]

got out yesterday am for a few hours, saw one 6 pt. come in on my scent trail. walked right through my shooting lanes as i had hoped but kept on walking. sure wish i could get his dad to do the same thing. left the stand at about nine to go work for a few hours. then came back out at around 4, for the evening sit. perfect night in the woods, with a small doe playing games with me. she came in on the scent trail also and walked a complete circle around me stopping with her head down in all of my shooting lanes. would like to see a bigger one for my bonus tag but if she keeps up those kind of actions she may not make it long out there. hopefully tonight will bring some luck...

[MUSKY18]

Got out and sat from 4:30 til 7 tonight. Beautiful night to be out in the woods, even better night for the deer. Didn't see anything. Setup on an oak ridge that borders a tamarack swamp. Staging area before the deer head out to the alfalfa and corn fields. Don't know where they are, but nothing showed before it got to dark to shoot. Talked to a couple in the parking area who were hunting over the food plots and they had been on stand since 2:30 and neither of them saw anything either.

[no bait nate]

went out this afternoon around 4 and hung another stand on a ridge that is overlooking a draw that some deer have started to move through. Didn't see anything during shooting light but after light a few moved through right below me so I had to stay put for a while longer than I had hoped. Hopefully tomorrow morning will bring some luck.

A friend sat out tonight in another stand of mine, about 200 yds from where I was and had a small buck chase a doe through with his nose on the ground. he said the buck was grunting the whole time he was running through. it's almost time now!

[Abndoc]

Was out tonight, turtle lake wis. Had a fork and 6 pt go at it for about 30 mins. 6 pt. chased fork off and bedded down next to my stand. Late night for me getting out of the woods also.

[engfish]

I've been waiting for a few weeks to have something to report. Went out tonight to a new stand location and got busted by a nice doe feeding just behind my stand. I sat for 30 minutes and put out two doe bleats and followed that up with a couple of soft grunts and say back. About an half hour later, I had a doe and two fawns come out into the picked bean field and walked right at me when they heard a dog barking off to the north. The doe led the way but didn't pause once she hit the trail in front of me, so I sat back down and waited. With ten minutes left I heard something off to my right and assumed that it was the doe circling back with her fawns to head back into the bean field and the newly harvested corn field to the east of the bean field. I stood up and clipped onto my loop. A flick of a white tail and out popped the 8 point I had caught on my camera two weeks earlier on the same trail at the same time. My shutout was finally over!

He took two steps and stopped suddenly, and I thought he had winded me. Instead, a semi was heading back to the picked corn field for another load, and my shooter buck turned and headed back into the woods.

It's going to be hard to stay off that stand, but I'm going to let it sit for another week and move to another stand on the north end of the property. He's not going anywhere, and he's going to start chasing before too long.

I'm just hoping that the rest of the corn will be harvested soon. I'm surrounded by it.

[paceman]

Took my son out in the blind friday evening. Sat on an alfalfa field. Saw over 15 does/fawns/small bucks comeing and going. Saw a decent 6 pointer work on a little scrape. Really fun to watch. Saturday Morning I sat back on a ridge and saw a doe and 2 fawns come through. always fun to watch the fawns. They always come right to the stand.

[AuggieDawg11]

Nothing too crazy to report from this morning other than a large owl in my tree when I got in my stand this morning. Didn't hear the thing but saw its shadow as it flew down from above me. I also saw that an old scrape that I noticed a few weeks ago has had a visitor. Time to move a camera down there to see what's visiting.

[james_walleye]

Went out friday afternoon and saturday morning and saw nothing. They are really picking the corn in the area. Even more rubs and scrapes have shown up. I put a camera up right in the middle of it all to see whats tearing things up.

[totally_addicted]

Ok hear we go... Friday night saw nothing, Saturday morning saw nothing, Saturday night saw 5. 2 does and 3 fawns. Sunday morning saw nothing but went for a walk to see what's been going on in the area kicked up 10 deer... 1 very nice buck. Yes it may be stupid that I went trampling through the woods, but today was my last day that I am allowed to hunt this woods until after opening weekend of rifle. The lull continues up in Frazee. Did notice 3 fresh scrapes and sure wish I could have seen the buck I kicked up near my stand instead of in the swamp.

[tunrevir]

I hit the stand Friday night and didn't see anything. It is in a big woods with oak ridges and bedding cover all around me. Saw a half dozen new rubs along the way which makes the time on stand a bit better. Fished Saturday a.m. on the Croix and the fishing was mighty good. Sat in a woods where I had seen a couple nice bucks early in the season but the bean feilds on 3 sides are picked and plowed under and only saw owls, red headed woodpecker, downy woodpeckers, a hawk and a ton of squirrels all looking for walnuts. Sat this evening in the same stand as Friday night. Climbed up, got my gear stowed and settled in by 4. 430 had a doe pass by out of range, 445 I catch a glimpse of movement and a lone doe is working her way towards me and as if on cue, she stops in my shooting lane 25 yards out. I let fly, good hit, can see the blood pouring out she cruises past a deadfall and I lose sight of her but here some flailing in the grassy swap just to the west of me. Sat for about 20 minutes, got curious and went down and found my arrow, good blood, good sign, easy tracking, found her piled up in the grassy swamp 50yards from my tree. Made it home just as the vikes game was ending. Some nights you just get a feeling

Tunrevir~

[bottom-bouncer]

Here we go thursday nite I went out after dark to make some mock scapes got out to the area spotlighted the field and there was three shooter bucks in the field along with 6 does and another seven deer across the road so I just drove away. friday my son brought one of his friends down for the weekend to hunt he is a young memeber FM. Got in the stand around 430 seen a deer in the thick stuff couldnt tell what it was. That was the only deer seen friday nite. saturday morning we didnt see a single deer when we left we drove out the back way and seen 20 does and fawns in the field across the river from our land. saturday nite we tried a different area I had three does and two fawns come by but just a bit out of range AJ passed on a doe that he said was farther out than he was comfortable with cudos to him for passing he later shot at and missed another doe. This morning I had one pass by before it was light enough to see AJ seen a doe at 75 yds and my son passed on a small 6. I went out alone tonite and had a doe come by at 100mph being chased by a 120-130 8pt. watched them for abit and then a little 4 point came out into the picked bean field I have never seen anything like it the doe and eight made back into the field and the little 4 started posturing at the eight I almost laughed out loud. I also started seeing more buck sign this weekend hopeing for cooler temps this week.

[Jack Stasney]

After shooting a doe last week in the morning I decided to try evenings. Felt good about it as Thursday I saw a nice eight and a four in my yard in front of my house just after dark. Was able to get out Friday night and tonight. Well the buck sightings ended in my yard. These still and warm evenings are keeping those deer sitting tight till dark. Hopefully a little cooler this week to get those deer moving. Did see a Great Horned Owl, yeah I've seen them before but this was different. The thing flew up next to me (about 20ft) and stared right at me for a couple of minutes. Had his head down and was peering at me, it was a little spooky. Those things have some huge talons. Anyways he flew a way and all was good.

[mrklean]

i finally got out for the first time this year. Hit up one of our small groves maybe 2 acres that my dad was seeing 4 doe in. snuck right up on them about 15 yards away watched them for about half an hour before the wind changed and they smelled me. Good first time out this year

[Finlander]

Hunted saturday. Tried to get to my stand from the farmhouse windbreak to the alfalfa field then take the field edge to by stand in the corner of the field, when I noticed a doe and two fawns about 100 yards out in the field. It was 4:30 and I waited for 20 minutes before a truck and trailer scares them into the pines, so I get going thru the field edge to my stand, get set up and about 15 minutes later I hear noise behind me and see a deer come out of the willows and onto the woods road so I turn to grab my bow and look to where the deer is and it's gone! Just dissapeared! Oh well!

10 minutes later I see another deer 40 yards away coming from the east of me so I stand up and safety harness carrabeaner clanges on my treestand and it looks up at me like what's that?

So it gave up and started eating twigs and stuff then it meandered down the valley and gone.

Little later, I hear all this comotion as three deer go running away with there tails up and start snorting as they were directly down wind of me. Oh well!

So far that's eight different deer sighted for the evening.

Then with about five minutes of legal shooting time left, out in the alfalfa field I see a doe standing there, then I see six more coming from the pines and they are all in full sight of me. I took another 15 minutes before I could get out of there without blowing them out of there. Had to go out the back way which worked out good as they were all there when I drove by the field.

Fun evening for sure!

14 deer sighted for the evening!

[matchset]

went out last night...brought my decoy and just tickled the antlers!

didn't see any deer; but i squeaked in coyote running the ridge 200yds out! probably would have gotten a shot; but he held up at 50 yards when he spotted the buck decoy.

[MOSSY]

went out last night,had a nice doe come in at 10 yards,she ran about twenty yards and tipped over.I sure love those tracking jobs

Mossy

[FishLocker]

Trigger, That is one fine buck. If I were you, I would check the possibility of working out of your "home office" all week and bring you laptop into your tree stand...I think the IRS would consider that a home office///maybe?

[Archerysniper]

Tonight I went back out to the food plot where I shot the one a few weeks back. Really quiet out till around 6:30 when I could hear a deer coming through the leaves out steps a little spike he stuck around for 10 minutes munching cloves then headed south across the drainage ditch and into the corn.

[MUSKY18]

Went out again tonight.......all was quiet, with the exception of tree rats and one rooster Pheasant that wanted someone to find him with all the darn noise he was making. On the way home, there were a lot of combines out in the fields hammering away on teh corn fields. On a bright note, I did find this:

[rcook72]

Saturday in Western MN. Small 8 came out and hung under my stand util he decided to go push off a forker that was rubbing a small sapling and chewing on a licking limb. Sunday in WI nadda. Monday back to WI check the cam and a 10 pt came in 15 minutes after I left. Tonight my decoy showed up and decided to give it a whirl. A button buck showed up at 6 and walked around the decoy checking it out then fed for another 10 min in the food plot. 3 does with fawns randomly showed up until it was dark. While waiting to figure out how to get out of my tree because some does were still within 10 yds of my tree I heard a buck grunting back down in the woods. Fun night. Unfortunetly I am going to be very busy for the rut working 6 days a week. Hopefully my one day off next week shows a little more pre rut activity.

[archerystud]

Went out last night (first time this year) and didn't see anything. I did have a fresh small rub right under my tree however.

[james_walleye]

I can say this, the rut is not going down here at all. When it hits, a buck will come and work his way around the field edges and leave scrapes every 50 feet. Nothing like that yet. Again had multiple does in the field last night with no buck sighting. Here's to another week of waiting. It certainly feels like an October lull.

Hey Trigger the land I hunt by you, i've had scrapes under every overhanging branch of the field edge since October 3rd as well as some rubs in which you can see antler tips tickling the tree about 11 inches above the top of the rub. Hopefully the camera i placed sunday gets a snapshot of him.

[96trigger]

Went out tonight, saw a few more scrapes and rubs. The buck activity is picking up, but I am still leaning towards it happening mostly at night. Tonight was tough, never saw a deer and my tree was whipping in circles, don't know if I could have held the bow still enough to aim and fire anyway. Those 40 mph gusts were wicked. Had a friend that was bowhunting also, he has seen deer every night out, he was even hunting a corn field that was just picked and that should have brought them in by the herd, he saw nothing. That says something right there. It should only get better from here on out, I look at the end of next week and the following as being a prime time to be out. I will be putting the bow away for awhile and will be taking a youth out hunting this weekend. Hopefully, I can give a positive report. I think tomorrow will be awesome and I fully expect to see lots of deer movement as the temp is supposed to drop 10 degrees and the winds are supposed to subside, it's really nice outside right now. I'll report back even though, I won't be hunting. I will probably try and do a little rattling tomorrow morning to see if I can't get the youngin to take a crack at a nice buck.

James, I have to give the farm were we hunt a little break, there are two youth hunting out of my stands this weekend. I'm hoping that they both do well, but that they don't contaminate the area too bad. I'll probably give it a good break and won't hunt it much next week, then hit it hard before fire arm season.

[gobigred]

Hey all,

Have been out a few times around mankato,have only seen fork bucks and fawns. Corn is mostly out so that should help. Don't get to hunt until next saturday but that should be about perfect. No sign of any scrapes, some small rubs. I'm getting a little antsy, but the prime time is coming soon!

[1eyeReD]

Went out yesterday for a morning hunt on a public piece. Got there early. Walked in around 5:30am and greeted a doe hanging out right on the trail under my tree and saw her eyes glowing across from my headlamp. She paid no mind and just continued moving off into the darkness. Got my climber up and by now it was about 6:15am. The rest of the sit until shooting time has got to be one of the most action packed sits I've ever had. It sounded like a whole heard of deer came through under me. Leaves rustling everywhere! Along the trail, under me, behind me, in front of me. Back and forth, branches and stumps cracking, oh man. I thought I was really in for a good hunt!

As shooting time approached, it had quieted down, but I had one deer remaining on the trail offering a 10 yard shot. Kept puttin her head down and then lifting up, but down there it was still too dark to distinguish if it was a doe or a small spike. I waited. 10 minutes later, I had just about enough light in the woods to see color in my shooting pins. I have a bonus tag so I was sure the smoker was going to be used later on that day. She lifts her head up and as the wind shifts her way, she turns to look up at me.. [PoorWordUsage].. It's a he! Little small spike buck. He pees on the ground where his head was down. Turns out he was making a scrape.. So I let him pass... He stares at my frozen silhouette for another few minutes and spooks, running out of there like he saw a ghost. 5 Minutes later, behind the brush I can see a huge brown body slowly moving in the same direction of the small buck. I looked closer and saw what seemed to be a massive deer rump. This had to be either a really huge doe or that might just be "the one" but it's moving the other way. Rest of the morning was quiet (dang wind!) I'm definitely going back there next week. Took 3 days off to hunt and I now finally found a spot I have confidence in. Life is good.